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A number of parabasalids and oxymonads are found in termite guts, and play an important role in breaking down the cellulose found in wood. Some other metamonads are parasites.

These flagellates are unusual in lacking mitochondria. Originally they were considered among the most primitive eukaryotes, diverging from the others before mitochondria appeared. However, they are now known to have lost mitochondria secondarily, and retain both organelles and nuclear genes derived from them. Mitochondrial relics include hydrogenosomes, which produce hydrogen, and small structures called mitosomes.

All of these groups are united by having flagella or basal bodies in characteristic groups of four, which are often associated with the nucleus, forming a structure called a karyomastigont. In addition, the genera Carpediemonas and Trimastix are now known to be close relatives of the retortamonad-diplomonad line and the oxymonads, respectively. Both are free-living and amitochondriate.

The metamonads make up part of the excavates, a eukaryotic supergroup including flagellates with feeding grooves and their close relatives. Their relationships are uncertain,[1] and they do not always appear together on molecular trees. It is possible that the metamonads as defined here do not form a monophyletic subgroup.

The following higher level treatment is based on works of Cavalier-Smith[2] with amendments within Fornicata from Yubukia, Simpson & Leander[3]